Approximately 330 calls have been made to three national anti-corruption hotlines that were created for the public to report corruption 25 days ago, said Pham Trong Dat, head of the Government Inspectorate Anti-Corruption Bureau.

Speaking at the Government Inspectorate's press conference yesterday, Dat said a large number of calls were in the fields of land, minerals, taxation, finance and social welfare, and abuse of an office's power.

The inspection sector acknowledged 120 cases and asked for additional evidence and documents.

According to him, the three hotlines (08048228, 0902386999 and 01256986688) are an effective solution to collect complaints from both civilians and officials in State agencies.

The latest Government Inspectorate report indicated that inspectors conducted more than 6,500 administrative inspections and more than 243,600 regular inspections in different sectors last year.

They discovered violations resulting in losses of VND97.4 trillion (US$4.3 trillion) and more than 16,400ha of land.

The authorities reclaimed VND16.2 trillion (US$721 million) and 316ha of land, delivering it to the State budget.

The officials issued more than 161,600 administrative penalties to organisations and individuals, amounting to VND11.4 trillion ($509.3 million).

The inspectors forwarded 67 cases involving 74 people to the criminal investigation authority.

It also transferred 40 cases involving 133 people to the concerned departments to initiate legal proceedings.

Corruption is considered an obstacle for doing business in Viet Nam, and the use of facilitation payments is widespread when dealing with frontline civil servants.order to improve the business climate and attract foreign investment, the country has made efforts to combat corruption.

Anti-corruption has moved to the forefront of the political agenda, and the legal framework for tackling corruption is now better developed.

The Government established an anti-corruption body, the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption, and issued the National Strategy for Prevention and Combating Corruption towards 2020.

The Government Inspectorate is a ministerial-level agency of the Government, exercising the function of State management of inspection, citizen reception, complaint and denunciation settlement and anti-corruption all over the country.

Joining hands in crime fight

Yesterday the Government Inspectorate signed off an agreement with the Supreme People's Court to jointly fight against crimes and law violations.

The two government bodies pledged to enhance cooperation in the process of citizen feedback, solving administrative petitions, anti-corruption, legal document compiling and professional exchange.

Activities on information and data exchanges as well as staff training were also among the key goals of the two authorities.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the signing of the agreement, Chief Judge of the Supreme People's Court Truong Hoa Binh said a close working relation has been set up for years between inspectorate agencies and people's courts of all levels particularly in exchanging professional data and information.

He said the agreement would further strengthen the effectiveness and responsibilities of the two agencies.

Chief Inspector of the Government Inspectorate Huynh Phong Tranh called on the two bodies to regularly analyse and review their work together to boost the fulfillment of their tasks.

VNS